22 October 2010

Science online, electrifying history edition

But there's no mention of the mouse who helped him. Dr. Skyskull unwinds the history of Benjamin Franklin's famous kite experiment, drawing on original reports in Proceedings of the Royal Society. (Skulls in the Stars)

I'm guessing that animated tattoos will be first. Stretchable sheets of micro-electronic components will have all sorts of science-fictiony medical applications. (All that matters)

It's an even longer way to amphioxus than we thought. MicroRNA analysis suggests that hagfish, long thought to be the most deeply-diverged relatives of vertebrates, aren't. (Wired Science)

On the wrong track. Dave Munger suggests that the same cognitive bias revealed by the "trolly car" dilemma may underlie people's willingness to believe pseudoscientific explanations for autism. (SEED Magazine)

The king of the Red Queen is dead. Leigh Van Valen, originator of the Red Queen hypothesis, died last weekend. (dechronization)

There's so many, we really ought to have some sort of systematic way to classify them. John S. Wilkins tackles species concepts. (Evolving Thoughts)

Video this week is the supplementary information for a recent study of sloth locomotion [$a] (via Wired Science)—the research found that, although they do it upside-down, sloths move a lot like other mammals.

Subscribe to D&T

Denim and Tweed on Facebook

Denim and Tweets

Opinions expressed on Denim and Tweed are my own, and not those of my employer, my collaborators, or any agency or entity providing me with research funding. Material posted on Denim and Tweed is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless otherwise indicated. You may freely use any of the original material on the site for non-commercial purposes, provided you credit Denim and Tweed and/or Jeremy Yoder (preferably with a hyperlink to the original) and allow others to use the material as well.